The Good HEAL Trust and the Diabetic Association of Bangladesh on Tuesday jointly launched the clinic to generate health and diseases-related awareness among the people.
Virtual Knitwear, a leading garment manufacturer, financed the clinic while InGen Technology Ltd, solar panel manufacturing firm and a strong player in the solar PV power industry in Bangladesh, provided the clinic with a solar panel.
The initiators hope 300,000 dwellers of the slum would receive comprehensive healthcare service, health education and awareness for prevention of diseases under the initiative.
At the inauguration, Good HEAL Trust Chairman Asif Mahmood said, “We cannot ignore the fact that we are dependent on the people who live in this slum.”
“We have to ensure that they also have access to healthcare services and can think of a better life beyond this slum,” said Mahmood, also Chairman of InGen and internet service provider ADN Telecom.
Virtual Knitwear Chairman Rezaul Haque said he was happy he could make a contribution to the project and hoped other garment factory owners in the vicinity would come forward to help the clinic for its smooth running.
“I have a garment factory near Gulshan-2 circle. Many of my workers live in Korail slum. They will also receive healthcare services here,” he said.
Dr Mobin Talukdar, Director of the Gulshan Health Service Clinic of the Bangladesh Institute of Health Science, an associate body of the Diabetic Association of Bangladesh, explained at length how the health services would be offered to the slum dwellers.
Diabetic Association of Bangladesh President Prof AK Azad Khan advised all to emphasise on the preventive healthcare to bring down healthcare cost.
He said the pilot programme aimed to make the clinic self-sustaining within two years.
It also aims to provide low cost services through innovative micro-health insurance, so that this model can be replicated in other parts of Bangladesh where people are deprived of basic healthcare services.
Former Health Secretary Muhammad Ali said the initiative would help inform the disadvantaged a lot about the healthcare and health education for prevention of diseases.
Good HEAL Trust Executive Director Tanvir Raquib thanked everyone involved with the programme for setting up the clinic.
He called for more assistance from the corporate houses of Gulshan, Banani and Mohakhali towards the initiatives taken for Korail slum dwellers.
Home Healthcare Service
The Diabetic Association of Bangladesh has launched ‘Home Healthcare Service’ programme in collaboration with the Good HEAL Trust.
Under the programme, trained health workers will take healthcare to the doorsteps of the ailing and the elders and assist them with their prescribed treatment.
The organisers said this initiative would cover the capital’s Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara in the first phase.
Diabetic Association President Azad Khan said they were starting the programme with eight health workers under the supervision of doctors from the Bangladesh Institute of Health Science’s Gulshan Health Clinic.
The organisers said the Home Healthcare Service providers would also check blood pressure, measure temperature, administer saline and insulin, collect laboratory specimen, call doctors and arrange ambulance to a hospital.